Tagged: Anaheim Angels

In the world of baseball, I think this series proved that sometimes the earth can be just a little off-kilter, and it affects the game.

First of all, the Angels didn’t play the night before: Their game was cancelled, as it should have been. They were mourning the sudden death of their young pitcher Nick Adenhart. Emotions were high. Another factor is that the last time these two teams met it was to decide the ALDS…and we won….again. Also, when our guys head west, they always seem to need some time-zone readjusting for some reason. The pitching match-ups just didn’t work. For starters, Wake against Jared Weaver…that’s just weird. They guys were playing on Easter Sunday. Was really a strange series that unfortunately will end up being revisited later this season, I’m sure.

Games 4, 5 & 6 – Anaheim Stadium – April 10, 11 & 12

Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay

Game 1 of the Series: L ~ 3-6

When I heard that knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was NOT retiring this year, but would be part of our rotation for another year, I sort of cringed. We have an overabundance of pitchers now, why would we want to take our chances on Wake? Sure, he can eat up five to six innings every five starts but that is if he’s on. As we all know, Wake who turned 43 earlier this month, is either ON or NOT. One thing on his behalf is that he looks like he got into better shape in the off-season, and that is good. BUT this game just proved Wake has his OFF days…way off. Our offense was awful. J.D. Drew especially. Even Masterson was not good. Not a good night for the Red Sox. Makes you think, why oh why do I stay up late to watch a 10:00 west coast game? One thing I did like is that the team was sporting their new road Blue Shirts with the Hanging Sox hats…very cool!

Game 2 of the Series:W~ 5-4

Brad Penney made his debut as a member of the Red Sox and got the win, though he started his RS tenure with a walk. Luckily we ended up winning this one, since the RS were in a three-game losing streak that needed to be stopped. The game was back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Lowell and Bay hit homers. In fact, Bay hit two! But, the Angels also answered us with homers of their own. Of course, we can’t just win, we ended up winningin nail-biting Red Sox fashion. Paps comes in in the ninth with a two-run lead and, first thing, gives up a homer to Torii Hunter. Then, Paps couldn’t throw a strike for the love of money. Then, if that’s not bad enough,he loads the bases. Up comes Howard Kendrick. The guy is 0-2 with two outs and fouls off seven, that’s right, seven. Finally, he does hit the dang ball, but it goes right to us. Game over; we win.

Game 2 of the Series:L ~ 4-5

Josh Beckett v Dustin Moseley. Easter Sunday. Day game. Rubber game of the Series. All typical baseball scenario’s, right? But it wasn’t a typical Red Sox v Angels game at all. It was a bench-clearing, drag-out, throw-out scene, all in the first inning. But wait, there’s no fighting in baseball.

This is how I saw it. It’s the story and I’m sticking to it. Ex-Yankee Bobby Abreu is at bat. Beckett’s checking the runner on second; he walking around the mound and looks back once, twice and a third time. He’s ready to execute his pitch and Abreu calls time. Usually there is a clear visual indication that the batter is calling time, and no lapse between the batter calling time and the Ump calling it…but this time there was. It was very subtle. Beckett half-way through his pitch execution sees time being called and throws it anyway. It sails. Right at Abreu. Doesn’t hit him. No big deal, right? Wrong. It was a big deal. Abreu started saying something to Beckett. Beckett walked closer to Abreu saying something. The benches cleared. It didn’t calm either. I’d say, two, maybe three times, the benches cleared and people had to get pulled from one another. When all was said and done, it appeared that Beckett got a warning. Angel’s manager Mike Scioscia, coach Mickey Hatcher, outfielder Torii Hunter and relieverJustin Speier all got ejected.Hunter and Speier, for whatever reason, wouldn’t let up. Both displayed, in my less-than-humble-opinion, the ultimate of baseball disrespect: they went had physical altercations with the ump. Not nice.

After the lengthy dispute, the game got backunderway. The Red Sox answered with back-to-back homers from Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew but it wasn’t enough to win this one. Let’s get out of Anaheim. This series needs to be put to bed.

As the Red Sox head west for six games on the road, their first stop will be to play against the Angels in Anaheim.

This will be a sad time because the baseball world, and especially the Angel’s organization,is mourning the loss of one of their own: 22-year old Angels’ rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart.

I didn’t know Nick, nor was I very familiar with his pitching or pitching style. I do know that he had pitched six shut-out innings against the Oakland A’s just hours before losing his life in a car crash that also claimed the lives of two other people. This crash came at the hands of an irresponsible drunk driver that felt he needed to flee the scene.

I just would like to extend my condolences to Nick’s family, the Angel’s organization, MLB, and baseball fans alike. We’ve lost one of our own. And that is very sad. GodSpeed, Nick.